Liam's group was still around, but they kept their distance. Liam himself rarely looked toward Ning's table anymore, and his friends, who had once made a habit of passing by it with loud remarks, now walked past it without saying a word.
Whether it was the suspension, the dodgeball game, or the simple fact that Jason now had people sitting beside him, Ning could not say, but the change was obvious all the same.
A few days passed in this manner.
Every night, without fail, Naysha used the Emulator.
She never mentioned it to anyone, not even to her friend, but he could see the effects of it in her.
She came to their evening combat lessons looking slightly more tired than usual, with faint shadows beneath her eyes, and on more than one occasion, Ning caught her moving her fingers absently during lessons in the same small, precise patterns he had seen her use during her simulation runs.
